ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

We always look forward to Halloween when we have a festive supper of Brother Patrick's homemade pizza. With Brother Daniel's assistance, he spends the day making sauce, chopping peppers and onions and kneading his own dough to create delicious giant pies. It is a special meal when speaking is allowed and there is candy and ice cream for dessert. After pitching in for a quick but thorough clean-up, we head to church for Compline and then to bed.

A little after ten in the evening on Thursday October 25, Dom Thomas Keating passed to the Lord after a long illness. He is beloved of the many monks who were formed under his direction. One friend and fellow monk recalls that Dom Thomas’ teaching on prayer represented “the finest in the mystical Catholic tradition, with its origins in the earliest centuries of the church." Dom Thomas  brought the rich mystical contemplative tradition of the Church to many and was a leading Catholic proponent of interreligious dialogue, cultivating ties of friendship and understanding. He will be remembered by many as a much beloved friend and teacher.

She is our mother, mother of our life, of our incorruption, of our light...She therefore who is the mother of Christ is the mother of our wisdom, mother of our righteousness, mother of our sanctification, mother of our redemption. Therefore, she is more our mother than the mother of our flesh. Better therefore is our birth which we derive from Mary, for from her is our holiness, our wisdom; our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. Scripture says, ‘Praise the Lord in his saints’. If our Lord is to be praised in those saints through whom he performs mighty works and miracles, how much more should he be praised in her in whom he fashioned himself, he who is wonderful beyond all wonder. Details from an early Cistercian manuscript. Lines from our Cistercian Father, Saint Aelred of Rievaulx. 

The Church shares its spiritual riches with its members through its common faith, its sacraments, its Liturgy and worship, its gifts and talents and most of all in charity, the love which makes us one with Christ and one another. The Communion of Saints represents the notion that all who are in Christ serve one another in love. As Christ’s body, the Church, we are called to communion, holy communion. Our ambition is not to glorify ourselves but to bring others to Christ. For us as monks we are not called to evangelize. Our life itself is our witness. Our prayer, silence, hospitality, charity and our joy will attract others to Christ. That is our ambition. To paraphrase the words of St. Francis of Assisi to his friars: “Preach to the people, but only use words when necessary.” Initial from an early Cistercian manuscript. Meditation by Father Emmanuel.

Jesus said to his disciples:  “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.”   Luke 12 Our work as monks is to remain constantly vigilant for the Lord's kind presence. This is the reason for our earlier rising and our return to prayer at the various hours of the day. Photos by Joan Bennett.

At this point in their relationship with Jesus, the apostles do not truly understand what discipleship will entail. And perhaps too readily they agree to drink the "cup" of Jesus and be "baptized" with him. He is of course referring to his passion. Loving him more and more, identifying with his mission of mercy and self-gift, soon they will understand more clearly, as they see mocked and scourged and crucified. As Father Emmanuel reminded us in his homily this morning, worldly ambition is always a temptation - seeking power and prestige and predominance. To follow Christ means to serve, just as he came to serve, not to be served. This is a lesson to be learned and re-learned here in the "school of love," that is the monastery.  Photograph by Brother Brian.

How do any of us, come to understand the cross as, of all things, an opportunity? How do we  keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who, for the sake of the joy that lay before him, embraced the cross out of love, heedless of its shame? Can we imagine truly embracing the cross, embracing our own crosses?  Saint Ignatius of Antioch had his gaze so fixed on Christ Jesus that he begged his friends not to keep him from the wild beasts who would eat him up in the Roman arena. “I will gladly die for God, if only you do not stand in my way,” he said. “I offer my life's breath for the sake of the cross…let me imitate my suffering God...I am God's wheat and I shall be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may become the pure bread of Christ.” Perhaps we are humbled by such ardor, but such passion is meant to be ours as well.  Photography by Brother Brian.

As Pope Francis said yesterday during the canonization ceremony, "Jesus invites us to return to the source of joy, which is the encounter with him, the courageous choice to risk everything to follow him, the satisfaction of leaving something behind in order to embrace his way. The saints have traveled this path." Certainly this was true of Saint Teresa of Avila, whom we remember today. She tells us, "On this road of prayer it is more important to love much than to think much." We pray that we may be consumed with love for Christ Jesus our Lord.  Detail of the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Gianlorenzo Bernini.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art Thou my best Thought, by day or by night Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise Thou mine Inheritance, now and always Thou and Thou only, first in my heart High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art. As we sang this hymn as the recessional at Mass this morning, we could hear echoes of Father Aquinas' homily. He admonished us to constantly put aside everything in order to follow Christ Jesus wholeheartedly. Let us make haste. Photo by Br. Brian. Some verses from  the Gaelic hymn by Dallan Forgaill.

It is our joy to celebrate this ordinary Saturday in honor of Our Lady. Saint Bernard says that above all what has drawn God to Mary is her humility. God finds it utterly irresistible. We arrive at humility by a route very different than Our Lady’s, but it can give us the same irresistible quality. We do it through, what we call in the monastery, bitter self-knowledge – the realization that we are sinners beloved by God, humbly acknowledging that we have nothing to boast of before God but our weakness. This humility allows God to be God for us, for when things fall apart we seek the only One who can restore us to wholeness, peace and joy. We rejoice because through the Virgin Mary God has chosen to be part of our fragmentation and restoration. An etching by Margaret Walters, (1924 - 1971).

As we remember good Pope John XXIII today, we recall his words, " If God created shadows, it was to better emphasize the light." With so much darkness in our world, we realize our longing for the Light - Christ Jesus our Lord. May His truth, the truth of self-forgetful love, move our hearts to prayer and acts of compassion and mercy. Saint John XXIII pray for us.

To test Jesus, the Pharisees pose this question, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife.” But Jesus goes back to the beginning and reveals the mystery of communion: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him.” A communion of persons is possible only because of mutual help. We are not sufficient unto ourselves. We are dependent on others. We are limited creatures, but God gives us helpers to help us bear our limitations and accept them. We see this clearly in married life but also in the common life of monks. Going one’s own way by refusing any dependence on others, is a recipe for disaster. Our Lord embraced his dependence – first, his dependence on Our Lady and Saint Joseph; then, on the companionship of his disciples, and above all, on his intimacy with his heavenly Father. We must do the same. Marriage is fruitful physically in the blessing of children but also fruitful spiritually in a partnership of life to the end. And the spiritua...

Jesus is consumed with love for the mission entrusted to him by his Father, and nothing  can  separate him or even distract him from its accomplishment. When he asks us to follow him, this is an expression of the divine pleasure to have us truly united with him in his task. Saint Francis knew that this union was the way of peace, joy and fullness of life in the midst of every conceivable trial and tribulation. Perhaps we are well aware of the distance between our level of discipleship and what Francis and the Lord Jesus hold out to us. The Lord can close the gap by the gift of his Spirit. Let us open our hearts to him.  Meditation by Father Timothy.

Many of us remember seeing this image as children. Perhaps unsophisticated or schmaltzy, it nonetheless communicates the truth of God's all enveloping care and watchfulness as embodied in the Angel Guardians. A thousand may fall at your side,  ten thousand fall at your right:  you it will never approach. Your eyes have only to look  to see how the wicked are repaid.  For you, O Lord, are my refuge.  You have made the Most High your dwelling. Upon you no evil shall fall,  no plague approach where you dwell.  For you has he commanded his angels  to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you upon their hands,  lest you strike your foot against a stone… Since he clings to me in love, I will free him, protect him, for he knows my name.     Psalm 91

If you are willing to bear in peace the trial of not being pleased with yourself, you will be offering the Lord Jesus a home in your heart. It is true you will suffer, for you will feel like a stranger in your own house. But do not fear, for the poorer you are, the more Christ will love you. We are always consoled by these words of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux; she reminds us that Jesus' power is made perfect in our weakness. How she trusted that God knows us in our smallness and frailty. Too often we try to be big, pretend to be big, when we ought to know better. God only wants our littleness and dependence on him. What a relief not to have to pretend any longer.